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Condo-mania: selling the sizzle
Each project is a distinct brand as developers
sell the lifestyle
Low interest rates, new rules requiring no down
payment and tantalizing advertising have fueled the Lower Mainland's real
estate boom. In March this year, 1,967 condos were sold, including resales.
That's more than in any other month in the region's history.
It's enough to make a developer think a project
can't fail. But that would be a mistake. Even in a white-hot market,
wrong-headed advertising can sink a condo project.
Projects flop if developers don't target their
advertising, said Vancouver's top-selling realtor and seasoned marketing
expert, Bob Rennie. He is one of a growing number of marketers who
help developers sell condos and who follow the latest real estate marketing
trends.
"Trying to be everything to everybody can
bankrupt a developer," said Rennie, who heads Rennie Marketing
Systems.
Smart developers no longer design and build a
project before bringing in the marketers. "I'm now involved before the
architect," Rennie said.
Former Vancouver city councillor Gordon Price,
who collects real estate brochures like kids collect hockey cards, has
noticed another trend.
"Marketing brochures at the beginning of the
downtown boom were almost indistinguishable from planning documents,"
he said. Typically, these brochures would be illustrated with floor plans
and renderings of landscaping.
By contrast, Price continued, developers now sell
lifestyle, complete with images of romantic couples living desirable lives.
Price is particularly intrigued by the way today's advertising images
idealize cycling. Years ago, cyclists were marginalized in the
alternative-lifestyle ghetto, he said. Now, they're glamourized as part of
developers' strategy to sell the idea that it is desirable to live in a
densely populated city core, he said.
Rennie highlighted the urban nature of the
Electric Avenue development at Burrard and Smithe streets. Brochures used
time-lapse photography to pump up the energy of the city's lights. The
result was the look that Electric Avenue was the centre of the entertainment
district.
Rennie said his first task is to
"invent" a demographic. He asks who is going to buy the units.
Then he crafts their dream.
Details such as the number of bedrooms, the total
square footage and whether suites need double ovens stream into Rennie's
mind.
After Rennie narrows the band of prospective
buyers sufficiently, he asks how much buyers earn and how much they can
afford to buy.
"We all want more; we just can't afford
it," said Rennie, who sold $247 million worth of real estate last year.
His latest project, the Tribeca Lofts at Richards
and Nelson streets, targets buyers who want Yaletown's trademark high
ceilings and hardwood floors but want a low-rise building. He plans to open
Tribeca's presentation centre in early July.
If the project mirrors other recent Lower Mainland
developments, buyers will camp overnight to get the first crack at bidding
on suites.
Letterbox Design Group managing
partner David Hornblow created imagery for both Electric Avenue and
Tribeca. He believes creating a unique brand is essential to market a condo
project. The high-energy Electric Avenue won't appeal to everyone, he said.
Nor will the Tribeca development. But crafting a personality gives potential
buyers something to like a lot.
At Tribeca, Hornblow is trying to capture the feel
of the Manhattan neighbourhood. "We visually capture the mood with
black and white photography. It's very art-oriented, sophisticated and edgy
- something you'd find in a New York art magazine," he said.
Print advertising is Rennie's favourite medium. He
buys full-page ads in daily newspapers at least twice a week, and uses
brochures and websites to reinforce the project's brand.
Developers like Cressey, Intracorp
Developments and the Adera Group of Companies use an ad agency that specializes in real estate marketing.
Developing catchy websites has become an
ever-bigger chunk of R Group's work because it gives the biggest bang for
the buck, said its director of creative services Roderick MacDonald.
"It costs less to put up a website than to
take a half-page ad in the Vancouver Sun," he said.
But relying on slick websites with Flash
introductions and downloadable video clips is insufficient. MacDonald said
wise developers round out their campaigns with print advertising, direct
mail and other media.
Brochures can be an important part of condo
advertising.
ET Marketing Solutions won
the 2003 Canadian Home Builders' Association of British Columbia
Georgie Award for its work on a brochure advertising One Harbour Green, an Aspac
Developments Ltd. project.
In fact, calling ET's work a brochure is an
understatement. Its 41 cm by 28 cm package comes encased in plastic and
includes three glossy books held in place by magnets.
Peter Tsui,
ET's account manager for the Harbour Green project, said developing a
top-notch brochure was part of ET's strategy to give prospective buyers
personal attention.
An expensive brochure was appropriate because
Harbour Green's suites all carried a $1-million-plus price tag.
Harbour Green's Web design made prospective
wealthy buyers feel special because direct mail first gave them passwords to
access special features on the project's website.
Tsui said the strategy might seem
counter-intuitive because marketers usually want all Web visitors to view as
much content as possible.
But having an access code makes targeted
prospective buyers "feel privileged," Tsui said. -
by Glen Korstrom Business
in Vancouver
June
29-July 5, 2004; issue 766
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